Woke up after 8 years: Kharge attacks Modi govt over delayed GST reforms

Congress National president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday, 4 September, attacked the Narendra Modi government over delays in implementing GST reforms, calling it a “good thing” that the Centre has finally “woken up” after eight years. He reiterated that the Congress has consistently demanded the simplification of indirect taxes.

The GST Council recently approved sweeping changes, reducing slabs to 5 per cent and 18 per cent, with a higher 40 per cent rate for sin goods. Items previously taxed at 12 per cent and 28 per cent will largely fall into the main slabs, which the government says will ease household burdens.

Kharge, in a post on X, said, “For nearly a decade, the Congress has been demanding GST simplification. The Modi government turned ‘One Nation, One Tax’ into ‘One Nation, Nine Taxes,’ including slabs of 0 per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent, 28 per cent, and special rates of 0.25 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 3 per cent, and 6 per cent.”

He added that Congress had proposed a “GST 2.0” with a simple and rational tax system in its 2019 and 2024 manifestos and called for easier compliance to benefit MSMEs and small businesses.

Kharge recalled that GST was first introduced by the Congress-UPA government in 2005, and when the GST Bill was brought by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2011, the BJP opposed it. “When Modi Ji was chief minister, he vehemently opposed GST. Today, the same BJP government celebrates record collections as if taxing the common people is an achievement,” he said.

He criticised the government for taxing farmers for the first time, imposing GST on at least 36 agricultural items including milk, flour, pencils, books, oxygen, insurance, and hospital services, dubbing it the “Gabbar Singh Tax.”

Kharge also highlighted the disproportionate burden on ordinary citizens: “64 per cent of GST comes from the pockets of the poor and middle class, while only 3 per cent is collected from billionaires. Meanwhile, corporate tax has dropped from 30 per cent to 22 per cent.”

He noted that Income Tax collections rose 240 per cent and GST collections 177 per cent over the last five years. “It is good that, even if eight years late, the government has woken up from its ‘Kumbhakarniya’ sleep and is finally talking about rate rationalisation,” he said.

Kharge demanded full compensation for states for five years, using 2024-25 as the base year, warning that lower rates will impact revenues. “Complex GST compliances must also be eliminated for MSMEs and small industries to truly benefit,” he added.

With IANS inputs